NEAR Spacecraft Observations of Comet Hyakutake

NEAR Spacecraft Observations of C/1996 B2

On March 24 at approximately 15:00 UT, the Near Earth Asteroid
Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft will take a small set of images of
comet Hyakutake from its position 15 million km from the Earth
and 16.7 million km from the comet. At this time, the comet
will be most visible to observers in Hawaii, Alaska, Japan, China,
and Eastern Russia.

Simultaneous observations of the comet from NEAR and groundbased
observers offers a potentially unique opportunity for expanded
phase angle coverage that could be used to further constrain
the composition and physical properties of the cometary materials
(the phase angle of the comet from NEAR will be ~85 deg, while at
the same time the comet's phase angle from Earth will be ~50 deg).
In addition, quantitatively calibrated groundbased data (flux
calibration relative to standard stars) could provide assistance
with the calibration of the NEAR multispectral camera.

If it is possible for you to observe the comet at or near
March 24 at 15:00 UT, we ask for your participation in this effort.

NEAR is a NASA Discovery-class spacecraft which was just launched
on February 17 and is currently on a trajectory for an encouter
and orbital rendezvous with the asteroid Eros in early 1999.

I would be glad to provide more details on NEAR or the planned
cometary observations if you are interested.